A First Dance
by SG-LAB
Summary: The kids in Atlantis are about to have their first dance when Anna suffers a medical emergency


Title: A First Dance  
Summary: The first dance for the kids in Atlantis is planned just as Anna has a medical emergency  
Author: sg_lab  
Rating: PG  
Feedback: Would be appreciated  
Pairings/Characters: Sheppard/Weir implied, several original characters  
A/N: This is part of my Annabeth Sheppard series which started with Life's Unexpected Challenges although Life's Unexpected Challenges is set long after this fic LUC sets up the series  
Disclaimer: All the characters except the children of the main characters do not belong to me.

At thirteen Anna noticed Marcus Lorne for the first time. Oh she had known him her whole life but she hadn't given him much thought until thirteen.

"Oh come on," Rodney Jr.'s voice interrupted Anna's thoughts of the boy sitting at the lunch table across from hers.

They were on lunch break from classes. With a growing population of children on Atlantis while they had been cut off from Earth for a number of years until a year earlier they had started to put together a curriculum.

"Would you quit making googly eyes at him," Rodney whined sitting down next to Anna with his tray of food.

"I am not making 'googly' eyes at anyone," Anna scowled.

Rodney simply snorted. "Hey, you okay?"

Anna grimaced. "Yeah, just a little headache."

"Want me to call for your parents or Uncle Carson?" Rodney was about to stand up.

"No, I'll be fine, just give me a minute."

Anna took a few deep breaths before she felt the headache lesson. "Are you going to the dance tomorrow?"

"What?" Rodney scrunched his face at Anna.

A dance had been planned for all the kids who were in their teens. Many of the Athosian children would be coming over from the mainland to join in.

"Why would I want to waste my time going to something like that?" Rodney asked.

"I thought you'd want to go with Susie Simpson," Anna grinned. She was certain her friend had a crush on Susie, scientist Dr. Sherry Simpson's daughter.

"Oh please," Rodney shook his head and got up to pick up his tray. He grabbed Anna's tray putting it on top of his.

"Hey, I didn't say I was finished with that," Anna griped.

"We're due in AP math in a few minutes," Rodney told her.

After he had taken care of their trays Rodney automatically grabbed onto the back of Anna's chair and began to push her out of the lunch room.

"Rodney," Anna whined at him. "I can do it myself."

"Fine," he released her chair.

"Hi."

They looked over surprised as Marcus Lorne approached them.

"Hi," Anna smiled at the boy.

"Are you guys going to the dance tomorrow night?" Marc asked.

"Yes," Rodney surprised Anna leaving her at a loss for words. She could feel her best friend's hand dropping down on her chair.

"Oh good," Marc said. "I guess I'll see you there then," he retreated rather quickly back to his friends.

"Rodney!" Anna all but shouted. "What were you doing?"

"Protecting you from the likes of him," Rodney said. "Have you seen the guys he hangs out with?"

Anna just glared at Rodney before spinning her chair around and rushing down the hall.

SB

Anna didn't speak to Rodney for the rest of the day and remained sullen for the rest of the evening leaving her parents to worry. By bedtime her headache had returned but this time she found herself throwing up in the bathroom.

"Anna," she heard her mom's voice coming from behind her.

Another voice was added to her mom's but this time it sounded like it was coming through a tin can. She turned her head slightly and felt like she was seeing her mom through a dark tunnel and her mom's face was fading fast.

She felt herself being picked up and cradled. She could feel her body bouncing as her father carried her through their apartment and through the halls of Atlantis.

Anna tried to reach out with her mind to feel the city but nothing was there; only the sharp all encompassing pain and the inability to breathe.

She felt a tube being inserted down her throat and then blackness took hold.

SB

"Lizabeth, she's going to be fine, Carson has been preparing for this eventuality," Anna heard her dad's voice nearby.

"I know," her mother said.

Anna tried to speak but found her voice impeded.

"Anna honey, don't try to talk," her mother said. "You have a tube down your throat helping you to breathe."

Anna felt hands on hers and another hand on her forehead brushing at her hair. She moved her had slightly to the right only to feel pain on her head.

"Hey kiddo, you're probably a little tender on the right side of your head right now," her dad said.

"Well then, I see my favorite patient is starting to wake up," Uncle Carson's voice could always calm Anna when she was in the infirmary or seeing a specialist back on Earth.

"Anna dear, I'm keeping that tube down your throat for another day just to be sure you're breathing all right. Okay? Anna, don't give me that look," he gave her his best stern look but his eyes were smiling. "That's a dear," he smiled.

Anna fell asleep again soon after that.

SB

At his word Carson removed the tube the next day. It was a relief after a day of suffering through the nurses having to constantly clear out the tube. Every time she felt like gagging.

One or both of her parents were there at all times and every now and then a different visitor would appear. Rodney Junior's parents Uncle Rodney and Aunt Jennifer were the first to visit. Uncle Ronon and Aunt Teyla came later with their oldest daughter ten year old Sela. They had two other children, a boy eight Jadin and a six year old daughter Krisa. Carson's wife Aunt Laura and their two children twelve year old Kayla and five year old Connor.

After Carson had removed the tube Anna was able to sit with a clearer mind. Carson had then explained to Anna what had happened to her. She was told there was a build up of liquid on her brain that needed to be drained so a tube was put in to control the liquid. He called it hydrocephalus.

"Water on the brain?" Anna asked.

Carson smiled at Anna and her mother. "I see your Latin is coming along well."

Carson had left mother and daughter alone then.

"Mom, have you seen Rodney Jr.?" Anna spoke hesitantly.

"I talked with his parents," her mom said. "He's feeling guilty about what happened to him."

"It's not his fault," Anna protested.

"You and he had a fight the day this happened, yes?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah," Anna said. "Still isn't his fault."

"I know, honey," her mom leaned over and kissed her forehead.

Carson stuck his head into Anna's private room a few minutes later. "There's a young man who would like to see you if you're up to it Anna."

"Rodney?" She asked.

"No," Carson looked at her sympathetically. "Marc Lorne."

"I need a mirror," Anna demanded. "How much of my hair is really gone?" Carson had had to shave off some of her hair at the back to insert the tube.

"It's not that bad," her mom assured her. "A very small amount. He won't even see it from the front or your left side." Her mom gave her hair a quick brush before she nodded to Carson to let the young man in.

A moment later Marc stepped in with her dad following close behind. Anna wished the bed would swallow her up right there.

"John, let's give these two a few minutes," her mother said to her father. She had the best mother ever.

"But…" her father's words trailed off as her mother tugged him out of the room.

"Hi," Marc said.

"Hi," Anna said.

This led to a lengthy and awkward silence before Anna thought of something to say. "How was the dance?" She hated missing it.

"Oh," Marc smiled. "It's been post-pone. We all decided if you couldn't be there we didn't want to have it."

"Oh uh that was really nice," if she could move one of her feet she'd kick herself. The conversation was a disaster.

"We'll have the dance as soon as you're feeling better," Marc added. "Um," he hesitated biting his lower lip. "Would you like to go to the dance with me when we have it? Rodney Jr. told me you and he weren't, you know and if I wanted to ask it was all right with him."

Anna didn't know whether she wanted to smack Junior or kiss him the next time she saw him. Internally shaking herself she replied. "I…yes I'd like that."

Marc nodded. "I should let you get some rest."

"Okay, it was nice to see you," she said cringing inside.

But Marc's smile beamed before he left the room.

A couple minutes later Anna's mother and father returned to the room. Her mom was smiling at her while her dad- was pouting?

"So?" Her mother asked.

"We're going to the dance together," Anna smiled.

"That's great, honey," her mom said.

"Yeah, great," her dad mumbled.

"Don't worry about your dad, he won't be giving Marc the third degree," her mother assured her.

SB

It was the first night neither of her parents stayed in the infirmary with Anna. She tried to fall asleep but it wasn't easy. She still couldn't fully feel the presence of the city. On difficult nights Atlantis somehow made it easy for her to sleep, but not this time.

Something clattered to the floor startling Anna. "Allie?" She said the night nurse's name.

"Ouch!" That was definitely not Allie.

"Who's there?" Anna sat up fumbling for the call button. She hated being trapped in bed without her chair nearby.

"It's me."

Anna asked the city to turn on the light in the room. The light came on at a low setting giving Anna a chance to adjust her eyes.

"Warn a guy when you're gonna turn on the lights will ya."

Rodney.

"Junior, what are you doing here at one in the freaking morning?" Anna demanded.

Rodney finally managed to make it over to the side of her bed. "Huh, I was expecting you to be half bald."

A pillow smacked Rodney in the face. "Hey, what ya do that for?" Rodney whined.

"Rodney, you better have a good reason for barging into my room at this hour."

"I wanted to apologize," he said almost meekly.

"Fine, I forgive you, now go home before your parents wonder where you went off to," she grabbed the pillow out of his hands and put back under her head before falling back into the mattress.

"So we're good?" Rodney asked.

"Go!"

"I'm going," Rodney raised his hands up in surrender. "Geesh," Anna could hear Rodney mumbling all the way out the door. Somehow it brought a smile to her face and the temperature of the room seemed to rise to a level that allowed her to fall asleep.

SB

"Lizabeth, he's my XO's kid, it's weird," Anna heard her father as she came out of her bedroom.

She had spent the past couple of hours looking for just the right thing to wear. It had been three weeks since she was released from the infirmary after her surgery and she was feeling so much better. She could hardly remember what it was like not to have excruciating headaches all the time. Now those headaches seemed to be far into the past.

The dance was rescheduled and Marc would be by soon to escort her there. She just hoped her mom could keep her promise and make sure her dad wouldn't give Marc the third degree.

The door chime went off and Anna just about ran over her dad's toes trying to get to the door before him. "Sorry," she said over her shoulder.

Her dad raised a single eyebrow at her, but all it ever really did was make people laugh. Her mother of course was another story. There were rumors about her single eyebrow raise.

Anna opened the door and frowned. "Oh it's you."

"Gee thanks," Rodney Jr. said.

"Rodney, will you be going to the dance tonight?" Anna's mom asked.

"Yes, Aunt Elizabeth," he said.

"Did you get a date?" Anna asked.

"I asked Susie Simpson," Rodney said. "She's meeting me here."

"Good for you, junior," Anna's dad said.

"Hah," Anna crowed. "I knew it."

"Anna, be nice," her mother warned.

"Do you think Kayla's going with anyone?" Anna asked Rodney of their friend.

"No clue," he said.

The door chimed and Anna looked over her shoulder at her dad who did his best innocent act. "Mom."

"Don't worry Anna. You remember what you promised John."

"All right," her dad relented.

Anna took a deep breath feeling the presence of the city and opened the door.

The End


End file.
